groovyjay

First I must thank David Orr for his tremendous effort to buid me a new Photo Page for you guys to see my progress, Thanks!!! This must be the best place in the world with friendliest people!

The pictures ca be found here: http://24.28.237.140/groovyjay/PhotoPage.htm They are so big that I don't want to put them here. Hope you'll enjoy!

Last two months have been very, no let me get that right, VERY busy!!! I don't even know where to start.

1st the frame was sand blasted and then welded after this I painted the frame and all other bits and pieces. After this it was time to start putting everything back together. Thanks to Eckler's I've only managed to get the rear suspension and brake lines done, see Ecklers had small two months delay on my front end parts! I'm expecting to get rest of the parts here this months(fingers crossed). Getting everything together again is like the worlds biggest puzzle. I got new off set trailing arms w/ poly pushings, Rebuild Brake callibers, S/S brakelines and braided hoses, all bearings are new. Rear end was checked and nothing major was done here. I'm still waiting to get my first drive with this this so can decide whether to keep the 3,55:1 rear or change it to 3,08:1 only time will tell. I'm also considering putting Culdstrand 5-link set up to finish my rear suspension.

2nd I'm doing a transmission swap here also from auto-to-manual. I ordered Richmonds 5-speed road race tranny from G-Force. It came on time with shifter and ****, excellent service from G-Force. As for bellhousing I ordered Lakewood bullet proof set up with clutch fork from Summit. Clutch is Centerforce dualfriction and fly wheel is RAMs billet unit, these came also from Summit Racing which is my favourite speed shop. From speed direct I ordered Clutch linkage kit.

3rd My engine is just about ready to be dynoed (should have been ready 6 months ago, but you guys who have done this know that delays are more rule than exception!!!). I'm still waiting for all the brackets and pulleys to be ready. One of my friends is doing them from Billet aluminum and this is going to be a serpentine set up. I will post a list of parts used in this engine later when I got everything done. Like most of you know I'm running Edelbrocks EFI, aluminum oval port heads. I'm also using Edelbrock Hi-Flow Victor series Water pump. Upstair stauff is from Crane and down stairs is mostly GM LS-6 stuff. Final compression ratio is 10;3:1.

4th Air Condition was one thing I wanted back, so I ordered sanden 508 compressor(chromed) and compact Gen II kit from vintage air. I got the compressor here, but rest of the AC parts are still on their way, should be here next week. Fitting this kit includes lot of modifying, so now I've been working on the fire wll to smooth it out from all those unnessacery holes and vacuum hoses etc.

5th The interior is completely stripped out now. Like mentioned abowe the A/C stuff needs a lot of attention and I'm also fitting new Autometer gauges, so this leads to that I need to make the center console and gauge paels custom made, they will be made from billet also.

6th the body has been just collecting dust for two year now. I've removed all the emblems and such. I've had my hands busy trying to clean the under side of the body, this is one task I don't recommend even to my worst enemies! But now after it's done and ready to be painted I feel good about what I've done. As for hood I think I'll get the same hood Nastee383 has on his car.

7th I ordered new wheels from hot rod usa. The wheels are AR TT IIs in size 20x8 and 20x10 rear. Tyres will be 255/35/20 275/30/20 Bridgestones. I just cannot wait to get these babies fitted!

8th After seeing Montys post about Rack and Pinion kit I couldn't help my self, so I ordered on as well. This is one thing that I think will make biggest difference to the handling. I ordered the kit from speed direct and I'm still waiting for it 'cause they had some delays with the kit.

9th Now I'm just waiting to get the front end stuff from Ecklers. Things I'm getting from them are tubular A-arms and complete composite front spring kit.

That's all for now I'll get back to you as soon as I can. :cheers:

Monty

Wow, deja vu. Looks awesome, you do excellent work.

Chris Fowler

impressive. :yesnod:

INMYBLOOD

Wow that is a lot of work :crazy: and sounds like lots of $ in a short time. Must have been a good tax return. :cheers:

gkull

IMO if your tranny is none Overdrive 5th gear I'd put in something like a 2.73 rear end.

I have 2.86 gearing in top gear and I'm always wishing for another shift.
http://24.28.237.140/groovyjay/images/FO0097.jpg

This is one of the cheapest additions anyone can do. :) I have big rear steel springs. So anyway to get the rear sway bar to work better without the large down angle connection and binding durring up and down travel.

I went to a metal shop and had them cut me two heavy wall square tubing blocks about 4 inches long and the tubing size was 1 inch by 2 inches. I also went by the hardware store and bought 4 2 3/4 inch long grade 8 bolts.

I drilled holes in the blocks and spaced the sway bar down from the frame 2 inches. So my sway bar is nearly parallel to the ground. :cheers:


[Modified by gkull, 2:29 PM 2/6/2002]

ddn

Is that an engine run stand? If so, I'd like to hear more about it. I'm tempted to build a run stand for my big block, so I can fire it up before I install it in the Corvette.

SmokedTires

Groovy your making great progress ! Keep up the excellent work that your doing :yesnod: !

Flareside

Jay, great work! Really nice!

I was hoping to see those fancy yellow brakes! :p:

-Joe

paso

Look's like your doing a nice job. Lots of pictures is GOOOOD!

SevenT1Shark

Wow Jay, you have been very busy. It all looks good from here. I like reading posts like yours. :cool: :cheers: :seeya ......

groovyjay

Monty: Thanks. I've been spending lot of time looking at your web site and your post here, you've been big source of information and inspiration so thanks for that! :D

Chris: :cheers:

INMYBLOOD: Yeah tell me about it. Seems that every penny I got goes in to this project... Hopefully it pays in the end.:)

gkull: Yes my tranny has 1:1 final gear so no OD here:(. Do you use your car on the highway driving? What kind of RPMs you get with that 2.73 gear? I want to get low RPMs for highways and I think even with lower final ratio that torque from my big block is enough to get this thing moving rather quickly! But like said I think I'll have to drive this thing first to get the feeling of which way I should go with the final gear.
That set up you mentioned sound very interesting, do you have any pictures or drawings of it to help me visualize it? :cool:

ddn: Yes that is. I don't have the exact measures or anything like that here but I can ask from my engine rebuilder how he did it and all that. This thing is simply used to tune the engine and preparing it for dyno. :)

SmokedTires: :cheers: Have you decided that are you going use TKO or auto yet? What is your cars current status? :yesnod:

Joe: Thanks man. As for the brakes I think I'll have to leave them for next winter :cry . I spend sooooo much $$$ here and I don't want to tighten my belt because of this, so... And if I'd get everything done now what would I have next year to keep my hands busy :D . BTW did you get that Steeroids kit? I haven't heard single word from them for two weeks now.

paso: Thanks Buddy, I still have some 100+ photos yet to be developet! I'll keep you posted. :chevy

SevenT1shark: Thank for the compliments :bb .


[Modified by groovyjay, 10:18 AM 2/7/2002]

Cajun99

Oustanding effort and great photos!! :cheers:
Can't wait to see the finished car. :cool:

groovyjay

Cajun75: Thanks man, you guys really keep me going! ;)

INTIMIDATOR ZO6

:seeya "Looking Good" :cool: :cheers: Keep up the good work! :yesnod: :flag

SmokedTires

Jay I've decided to go with the TKO but I'm thinking of ordering the bolton crossmember from Bowtie Overdrives because I think the mounts are the same. That of course means that need to cut the stock crossmember out of my car still :cry .

My rear differential is done and ready to be bolted back in and my JCL sidepipes are ordered.

Boy we both still have soooooo much to do ;) .

Flareside

Jay, my Steeroids kit arrived today, and it looks great! I did have to call them a few times over the last few weeks to get it out their door. They don't have enough parts to fill all their orders, so the guys that call asking for quick service seem to get it faster. They're very nice to talk to, so give them a call for an update.

I was just curious about the brakes. They're WAY too rich for my wallet!

-Joe

Merlin522

Looking good! Keep those pics coming!!! :cheers:

LakotasRose

Looks great!!

Can't wait to see the finished product! :)

0Mike69@ECS

:cool: Nice Work! :cool:

bowtie racing

Awsome work,way to go! :cheers: